Curls
by Bad Wolf and Timelords
Summary: River runs into a familiar face. After all, she does have pictures of all his faces. Set after Angels Take Manhattan for River.


_**A/N: This is set about a week of so after Christmas 2012.**_

* * *

As River walked down the street, she buried herself deeper into her parka; trying to avoid the biting January air. She felt guilty for leaving the Doctor; but they both needed their time to heal, their time alone. But the way she heard it, the Doctor was back on his feet again. Yes, she already knew that he was back on his feet for a while with the help of a friend; but when the friend had to go her own way, it destroyed the Doctor once again, hitting him even harder than before. The Doctor was right though, it was the curse of the Time Lords; having to watch those you care about slip past you right before your eyes. Losing her parents was hard, for her and the Doctor both. But River had known her mother would never be happy again if she could never see Rory again, so she had encouraged Amy to let the angel win. Despite the Doctor's protests, and as much as it broke her heart to do so; she convinced her mother to blink. River knew that the Girl who waited and the Boy who waited should, and would, always be together; and no one could ever stop them.

After that; River ran. She pulled a Doctor and ran. She ran, never looking back. Yes, she would be able to see younger versions of her parents. But knowing ultimately what their fate would be, hurt so much.

So she ran.

As she walked through the crisp air, River contemplated what she should do today. After all, she was a free woman. Apparently she didn't kill anyone called the Doctor. Besides, wasn't that the question that had started it all? The oldest question in the universe, the question that must never be answered; Doctor Who?

Thinking of that man, that impossible man; River ruled out the possibility of visiting him. Today she didn't feel like risking upon the chance of meeting a younger Doctor who didn't really know who she was; today, River didn't want her heart broken even more.

So as River walked along, the sound of fast paces advancing from behind and a voice calling for her attention snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Love the hair, my dear." A man said as he walked past River; a small, blonde long haired woman trailing quickly after him.

River tried to stifle a giggle as she saw what the man looked like from behind. He wore a long, sweeping brown coat, his shaggy and equally curl mop of hair bouncing slightly as he walked. Yet most of all; his scarf, his impossibly long and colorful scarf that occasionally kissed the ground as the man walked. He looked… River didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to say except that there was no doubt who this man was; the Doctor always had a thing for dressing…_ differently_. Quickly, she took a peek at the woman walking ahead of her as the three kept walking. She wore an outfit that had strikingly exact resemblance to what the Doctor was wearing; except more feminine, stylish, and _pink_, _lots_ of light pink.

River laughed, thinking back to the pictures of all the Doctor's faces she had in her possession. She had made sure to remember every single one, every single detail. It was irking to her that she didn't know the order; but this Doctor was clearly a very, _very _young Doctor. After all, must be considering the woman next to him was a Time Lady. Being part Time Lord had its perks, River had admit, she had easily identified the woman as a Time Lady; something River had never done before asides from being with the Doctor.

Shaking her head as she laughed, River called back to the clueless Doctor who was already quite far ahead. "Thank you, sweetie."

The Doctor and the woman heard River's reply and stopped on the pavement, turning around to look at River down aways on the side walk. They both smiled at her recognizing her as one of them before nodding to her and continued walking away. River continued watching after them, making a mental note to ask the TARDIS about the companion she had just seen, and just who she was.

And with another smile, River typed in a set of coordinates in her vortex manipulator; before looking to the Doctor's receding form, and with another smile, zapped into the vortex; feeling rather enlightened with today's course of events.


End file.
